Marketing campaigns in foreign languages. Choosing the proper keywords

Black Friday and Christmas sales are around the corner. It is no wonder that the e-commerce industry is on fire with ideas and plans that are implemented with focus on every detail. Social media and search advertising campaigns require appropriate preparation. Especially if they are launched in foreign markets. 

The key to success in the hottest fourth quarter of sales may turn out to be the translation of marketing texts – especially phrases that are crucial for foreign recipients. SEO is governed by its own rules – it is worth knowing them and making the right decisions regarding translation. 

Knowledge of the language and automatic translators is not enough. So what does a company need in order to position itself effectively in another country’s search engine? 

More than just keywords – what is SEO? 

Before going into the details, let us explain the basic concepts related to the aspect of marketing translation discussed today. What is SEO? This acronym stands for Search Engine Optimization. It refers to the set of activities that make up the process of optimizing a website for search engines such as Google.  

This concept is closely related to positioning, the effect of which is to adjust marketing activities to match search engine algorithms. As a result, the website or shop will appear higher in the search results in response to a given key phrase.  

Keywords – name of product and expectations 

Keywords are single words or whole phrases that are typed into a search engine. Depending on the item or service you are looking for, they can be simple and short, but sometimes they come in a long form. The phrases used in marketing, specifically search advertising campaigns, are not chosen by chance. 

This is the result of the positioner’s analysis and the user’s needs. Key phrases are not just specific names or product descriptions. These are also phrases that reflect the needs of the potential customer. Using a more or less short form, the customer expects specific search results that will bring them closer to the expected transaction.  

Therefore, machine translation will not be able to analyse the expectations of users. Such a solution offers a 1-to-1 translation, which will not prove valuable in every case. On the contrary – poorly selected keywords in paid advertising campaigns can generate worthless and expensive clicks, without any conversion.  

Translation of keywords – the most common problems  

Advertising campaigns in foreign languages require tailoring the keywords to the relevant market and the expectations of the local audience. Marketing translation requires more than just vocabulary knowledge. Translating a word using an online dictionary will not always be a good strategy for positioning in foreign markets.  

There are also differences in speech and writing depending on the region, which is particularly noticeable in English-speaking countries. People in the UK call cinema differently to their English-speaking counterparts overseas. In the case of translating ads and selecting keywords, this will be important, specifically in the case of local positioning.  

Collocations require caution when translating marketing texts, and in this case keywords. Puns make it necessary for the translator to think carefully about the translation. Phraseological compounds cannot be translated literally either. Poor translation may be associated with the lack of positioning effect, provided that such phrases are allowed to the campaign by positioners. Their presence in the spoken language does not guarantee success in advertising and optimizing the website.  

Keyword translation may also require transliteration. This applies to languages that use a different alphabet than the one used in the target language. Translation from different alphabets requires excellent knowledge of the source language.  

Hyper-localization, or how to match a word to the culture of a given country? 

When analysing and translating keywords, advertising slogans or other advertising materials in the marketing industry, hyper-localization will be necessary. It allows content to be translated according to the linguistic norms, cultural rules of a country, its region or a particular community.  

It involves adapting the content linguistically and extra-linguistically to the realities of the audience. It is designed to present the text in the way that is most natural for it and sends the message: ‘I am here where you are and I understand your environment’. This speeds up the process of building the company’s image and brand trust, which is important, especially for companies just starting out their activities in foreign markets.  

Translation of advertising and marketing texts is the key word to success! 

Business and marketing texts should be tailored to the objective you want to achieve and to your audience. The use of culturally and regionally specific phrases will make the content memorable to potential customers, which will impact the process of building trust in the (new) brand in a foreign market. From there, there is only one step towards a successful sales process.  

Let’s talk about marketing translation and SEO translation. Let’s build together what is most crucial in translation for business – and it’s not just words! As a translation agency with more than 11 years of experience, we are proud of cooperating with many translators and native speakers who guarantee error-free translation services or machine translation post-editing. We offer translation services in dozens of language pairs. 

Translate all your marketing content in one place – save time, save budget  

If you are planning to position your website in multiple languages or send promotional materials to different parts of the world, it is worth considering cooperation with just one translation agency. All content will be translated by the same company, while the translators will be able to work together and jointly build a translation memory for a specific company.  

How do we work on key phrase translations and other advertising content? Feel free to contact us – we will be happy to explain each stage of the order process.  

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